In sporting activities such as soccer, ice hockey, field hockey, and lacrosse, athlete's shins and ankles are prone to injury from impact. To prevent such injuries, athletes use shin guards for protection. Although prior art shin guards are generally designed to protect a player's lower leg and ankle from impact with a ball, a puck, an opposing player's foot, and other sporting equipment, shin guards can provide great discomfort to the player. Prior art shin guards are generally formed with an impact absorbing material, including, for example, plastics, foams, carbon fiber, and impact-absorbing gels, that are encased and/or backed with a fabric or other synthetic material. These shin guards are designed to be worn inside a player's sock, wherein the inside surface of the backing or casing directly contacts the player's lower leg. The shin guard is secured to the player's lower leg by means of a strap extending around the leg. Players often sweat during play, particularly in the area between the shin and the backing or casing of the shin guard. As this backing or casing rubs against a player's shin during play, the player's skin is irritated and may develop a rash. Moreover, some of the player's sweat penetrates into and is absorbed by the backing or casing of the shin guard, resulting in foul odors after play. Washing and drying these shin guards can be difficult, as high temperatures can deform or destroy the impact absorbing material. Multiple washes can also lead to deterioration of the shin guards.
Attempts have been made to overcome some of the problems associated with prior art shin guards. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,900,270 to Scheffer (hereinafter the “270 patent”) discloses a shin guard for a soccer player that comprises a bandage with straps surrounding a player's lower leg, and a rigid shield element attached thereto that is intended to be positioned in front of the player's shin. The bandage is attached to the rigid shield element with Velcro® hook and loop fabric fastener, and is removable from the shield element. This construction, however, has multiple drawbacks. For example, the bandage layer is bulky and constrictive on the player's leg. The bandage layer has two constrictive straps for attachment to the player's leg, which are formed from two upper flaps that wrap around the player's leg and attach to one another above the player's calf, and two lower flaps that wrap around the player's leg and attach to one another below the player's calf. In addition, the shin guard described in the '270 patent has no means of securing the rigid shield element to the player's leg. The rigid shield element is only attached by Velcro® to the underlying bandage layer. As such, the rigid shield element may become dislodged from the shin area when in use, thereby heightening the risk of injury to the player. Moreover, the shin guard described in the '270 patent is an integrated system that requires a rigid shield element that is specifically designed for attachment to the bandage layer. The bandage layer is not designed to be interchangeable with other types of impact absorbing constructions. Finally, for ankle protection, the shin guard described in the '270 patent requires a separate ankle guard that the player attaches with Velcro® to the elastic bandage layer. This construction is prone to detachment during use, which may limit the shin guard's effectiveness.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0294799 to Pedigo et al. (hereinafter the “'799 application”), now abandoned, describes a shin guard odor protector comprising an absorbent pad, a protective barrier material, and a fastening system designed to be temporarily attached to a shin guard. The '799 application contends that the odor protector described therein absorbs the wearer's perspiration, protects the shin guard from that perspiration, and is removed and discarded after use. The odor protector described in the '799 application is not washable or reusable, which results in high replacement costs over the life of a shin guard. Moreover, the odor protector is backed by a plastic barrier material layer that imparts rigidity into the overall structure (i.e., the odor protector is inelastic). The odor protector's rigidity is augmented by the series of attachment means, namely adhesive strips, that extend along the length of the odor protector at intervals across the entirety of the protective barrier layer. This rigidity may cause rashes on a player's shin during play.
The present invention has been designed to overcome these and other deficiencies in the prior art.